Arthur Lai – Vistage Chair Profile

Arthur Lai or ‘Art’ believes he found his calling when he was invited to join Vistage Malaysia as a Vistage Chair or Business Coach, as our Chief Listening Officer, Richard Wong had invited him to be a member back then, when it was called TEC.

Arthur is a Fellow and a Chartered Marketer by profession with the prestigious Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. He is also a Certified Professional Trainer and Facilitator by the University of Malaya as well as a Distinguished Toastmaster. In his term as Area Governor in 2013-2014, he was awarded Area Governor of the year in Division C.

The first 15 years of his career was in sales and brand management in the FMCG industry when he was roped in from Unilever to Unza/UAA with the task of forming their own sales team. He was the first employee in UAA and is proud that it is now a dynamic and renowned sales and distribution organization in the Asean region. He was subsequently their sales trainer to more than 1,500 sales & promoter personnel throughout Malaysia and Singapore.

Arthur later took on the responsibility to develop and launch the Eversoft skin care products as Brand Manager for Unza (now UNZA Wipro). The Eversoft beauty skin care range still sits prominently on the supermarket shelves and has also successfully penetrated market share in other regions in Asia.

In the following 20 years, Arthur moved upstream to the manufacturing and packaging industry in positions as CEO, head of operations and regional head in Asia. He worked at Carter Holt Harvey, Champion Photo Chemicals, Pemara Labels, Innovia Films and Bodibasixs. His most significant performance was as the group general manager of Pemara Asia Holdings, where he and his team gained significant market share from the locations of Vietnam and Indonesia.

To unwind, Arthur flies traction and stunt kites which gives him a “high” and he believes the skills involved are similar to excellent management concepts. He is also an avid guitarist and ukelelist and has performed in many functions to-date. His favourite quote is “Never fear Arthur’s here!”